


By Chance

by lesbianmountaingal (AllTreesAreSapphic)



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff and Crack, M/M, NASA AU, alcohol consumption cw, basically just replaced starfleet with nasa, hikaru is an astronaut, ofc is ben's sister she's here for plot reasons, this isn't my usual writing style but the world needs more benkaru
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-27 02:15:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9945776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllTreesAreSapphic/pseuds/lesbianmountaingal
Summary: Ben is escorting his little sister out to her 21st birthday celebration at a local bar, and somehow manages to spend hours flirting with famous NASA pilot Hikaru Sulu without realising who he is.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Check out nim-lock.tumblr.com/post/157742670619/benkarubb17 for the art to go along with this fic!

Bars in San Fransisco are always crowded on a Saturday night. As a native to the city Ben was used to this, and he usually did his best to avoid them — he didn’t like crowds, especially drunk ones, and generally wasn’t all that great at socialising. Unfortunately for him this particular Saturday was his sister Sarah’s first weekend as a twenty-one year old, and she had demanded he accompany her to some hipster joint she’d picked out for her first drink. She was currently on her eighth, her and her friends were occupying one of the curved booths dotted around the place and were contributing enthusiastically the general rowdy din. Ben was sitting at the bar with a glass of orange juice and trying not to count the hours until he could politely leave. If they weren’t done by midnight he might just have to carry her out himself.

‘Is that… orange juice you’re drinking?’ 

Ben cast around for the source of the question — it was the man sitting next to him. He had dark hair that had maybe been neat at the start of the evening, hooded eyes that were working on some laughter lines despite him only being in his late twenties. He seemed just a bit familiar, in a way that made Ben want to know how he new him. ’Yeah. Do you have something against orange juice?’ 

‘Not exactly. But I can’t buy you a drink if you’ve already got one.’ That… was smooth. Ben raised an eyebrow at him.

‘Fair point — I’m not going anywhere fast, though.’ The man smiled at that, probably thinking his luck was in. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Hikaru,’

‘Nice to meet you. I’m Ben,’ they shook hands, and Ben couldn’t help but notice that Hikaru smelled more than faintly of alcohol. It dawned on him then that he probably shouldn’t be flirting: he was here to keep an eye on his little sister, not let himself get hit on by a random, incredibly cute stranger. Also, if he started chatting he might end up getting distracted, which was hardly good for his role as escort. But his sister wasn’t exactly going anywhere fast either… He decided that, in this case, there was nothing wrong with a bit of conversation — maybe tonight wasn’t going to be so bad after all. 

‘And so Jim, at this point, his shirt is falling off and Bones is just glaring at him like — like he’s gonna slap him or something ya know? And Pavel — bless Pavel, to be honest, he’s so innocent — he’s still trying to put out the desk fire and…’

‘Are you sure all of this really happened?’

‘Yeah! My job’s insanely dangerous, but I wouldn’t give it up for anything, Ben, seriously.’

‘You haven’t even told me what it is you do, Hikaru.’

‘Haven’t I? Oh crap, how much have I had to drink?’

‘Hmmm… More than me, and I’ve had a lot.’ The two of them had been talking for hours — Ben had learned that Hikaru was an excellent fencer, had a houseplant named after one of the early tsars of Russia, and worked with some of the most brilliantly eclectic people he’d ever heard about. He seemed so nice, and way out of Ben’s league — but Hikaru apparently had it the other way around.

‘So I know this is probably a stupid question, but… can I get your number? I feel like you’re that kind of person that if I don’t get it now, I’ll spend the rest of my life regretting it.’

‘That’s kinda deep, Hikaru. We’ve known each other for a few hours.’

‘Coming on too strong?’

‘Just strong enough, actually,’ he smiled, and Hikaru smiled back. Somehow they’d drifted slightly towards each other, without noticing, so that half a dozen inches of polished wooden bar were the only things separating them. ‘And yes, you can have my number, just give me a second —‘ he was about to pull away and get his phone when he caught Hikaru’s eyes and stopped. There was a brief moment of indecision, an awkward and silent kind of “is he thinking what I’m thinking?”, before they both leaned in, closing the distance between them and —

‘Um, Ben?’ They stopped. Sarah was standing near them, a half empty glass in her hand and an urgent expression on her face. ‘I need to talk to you for a second.’

‘Sarah, I was kind of in the middle of something —‘ he turned to Hikaru, who was smiling awkwardly. ‘Do you mind if I…?’

‘Not at all. I’ll be right here.’

‘Thanks. Sorry. Be right back.’ He let Sarah drag him out the back door to the tiny, well-lit garden. The dark sky was full of stars for once, despite the light pollution. 

‘Sarah, what the hell? This better be important, because —‘

‘Oh, it’s important Ben. Do you realise who you were about to start making out with? Oh don’t look like that, I can tell you were going for it — that was Hikaru Sulu. Hikaru freakin Sulu! The NASA pilot? First man to walk on Mars? Co-Captain of the Artemis mission? Holy shit, I can’t believe you didn’t recognise him, Ben!’ Holy shit indeed. Ben stood in stunned silence for a long time processing the fact he hadn’t recognised the most famous astronaut of the 21st century when he was right in front of him. And Hikaru had been the one flirting with him! 

‘Crap, Sarah, what am I going to do?’

‘Go back in there and kiss him, you idiot! Surely him being famous would make that even more of an obvious choice?’

‘No, hey, dating a celebrity is a whole different ball game to dating in general — which you might remember me being not very good at in the first place — what if I mess up somehow? Make an fool of my self? Get dragged in every scientific journal in the country?’

‘Whoah, whoah, Ben, who said anything about dating?’ his sister flashed him an evil looking grin.

‘Hey, he was the one who asked me for my number — in fact, he was the one who started hitting on me.’

‘Ben, you are possibly the most socially inept person I know. And yet you have enchanted this living legend simply by existing. Now go back in there, and kiss him like you’re the lead in a romcom — I’m getting an Uber back home.’

‘You’re sure you don’t want me to come with you?’

‘Absolutely.’ she tackled him in a slightly unsteady hug. ‘I love you big brother,’

‘I love you too.’

 

Ben fought back nerves as he reentered the bar. He was half expecting the seat where he’d left Hikaru to be empty, so he could leave without embarrassing himself, maybe tell the story of how he came this close to dating a famous astronaut before fate decided it wasn’t to be. But no — there he was, exactly where he’d been when Ben had left.

‘Hey! I’m sorry, my sister is kind of the worst sometimes. Anyway, where were we?’ He hopped onto the barstool where he’d sat last.

Hikaru smiled hopefully, ‘You were about to give me your number?’

‘Really?’ (You can do this, Ben, come on…) ‘Cause the way I remember it, it was more like this…’ 

Before he had time to panic or back out, Ben closed the distance between them. Air rushed past his face, the smell of cologne and alcohol crashed into him, time seemed to slow as his entire world concentrated down to the rapidly vanishing inches before —

They kissed. Well, Ben’s lips crashed into Hikaru’s and there was a millisecond of panicked indecision before Hikaru enthusiastically kissed him back. Ben, being slightly more conscious that they were in public, felt the need to stop before people started staring. It took almost more willpower than he had in him to pull away.

‘I was kinda hoping you’d do that,’ Hikaru said, smiling even more now.

‘That’s a relief, cause I had no idea,’ Ben smiled back. ‘You still want my number?’

‘Definitely!’ 

As Ben typed in his contact info he couldn’t help but recognise some of the other names in the list— Captain James Kirk, who’d led the mission to orbit Venus; Dr Leonard McCoy, famously saved the entire crew of the International Space Station from a drug-resistant bacterial infection spread from the dehydrated Thanksgiving potatoes; Montgomery Scotty, whose advances in theoretical engineering were leading to the development of the teleport. And then his name, sandwiched in between the contacts. He handed the phone back, feeling more than slightly that the entire night had been a dream.

‘Promise you’ll call me?’

‘As soon as I get home. Which I’ll have to do soon unfortunately — I have a meeting in the morning.’

‘I don’t mind,’ he said, although, he did, kind of, in a self -indulgent way. ‘I’ll see you around, Hikaru.’

‘I’ll look forward to it.’


End file.
